High Desert man sentenced to 120 years to life for shooting at Victorville deputy

Prosecuted by DDA Shannon Faherty

“Every day our law enforcement officers risk their lives to make sure that our communities are safe,” District Attorney Mike Ramos said. “Thankfully, in this particular case, the officer was not physically injured and authorities were able to apprehend the defendant before he could cause any further damage. Criminals who assault our police officers represent a threat not only to the officer, but to the safety of the entire community. Let today’s sentencing send a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated in San Bernardino County.”

Tennessee man convicted in 2000 cold case murder sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison

Prosecuted by DDA Denise Yoakum

“Thanks to advances in DNA technology and the work of the Sheriff’s Department, we were able to match Mr. Bell’s DNA to the cigarette butt, as well as his fingerprints,” said Deputy District Attorney Denise Yoakum.

In a Victim Impact Statement submitted to the court, the victim’s friend, David Phoebus, said: “Not only was Louis a very close friend of mine, but he was also a father to a little boy, a son, a brother and had many friends who cared for him. To this very day I still grieve for the loss of my friend, and how his life would be today had he been given the chance to live it. I know his family and his son feel the same way, and that pain will never go away for them. I could go on and on about how the senseless death of Louis has affected my life and others in a negative way, but this will not bring him back to us.

A search warrant would later reveal post-it notes in Amy Hillrich’s purse in which she requested that David kill her husband because he was making her life miserable. Detectives from the Ontario Police Department, who were the investigating agency, were also able to locate text messages and phone calls between the defendants, including text messages between Amy Hillrich and Olvera in the days and moments leading up to the murder, coordinating where John Hillrich would be at a given time and how to disable his car’s security alarm. According to Elizalde-Daly, one other post-it note was a “Dear John” letter to the victim, telling him that she was sorry that it had come to the point where he had to be killed. It was signed, “Love, Nikki.”

“For decades, this local criminal street gang has wreaked havoc in our High Desert region,” District Attorney Mike Ramos said. “Thanks to the hard work of the Victorville Police Department, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Britt Imes and all of our support staff, we have sent 61 gang members and their associates to state prison for a total of 485 years.”

“I am so grateful that the jury took care to find justice for these children,” Deputy District Attorney David Foy said. “These kids were starved to the point where witnesses described them as looking like concentration camp survivors and zombies.”

Carmen Montelongo was arrested in 2011 after being discovered pushing a trash can down the street that contained the body parts of her 62-year-old boyfriend, Samuel Wiggins. On Aug. 29, after three days of deliberations, a jury found Montelongo guilty of First Degree Murder.

"We are pleased that the jury saw the case for what it was—a heinous crime—and that justice was served for the victim and his family,” said Deputy District Attorney Erica Gallegos.

“There were some common themes across the victim impact statements given by Ms. Kelley’s daughter, son and daughter in law at each sentencing,” said DDA Turk. “There was the disbelief that a group of people in their early twenties couldn’t have just burglarized the house without assaulting an elderly person and causing her death. And then they all expressed how horrible it was that a sweet, kind lady had spent her last moments in terror.”

“In a perfect world children would not be victims of sex crimes,” Deputy District Attorney Kathleen DiDonato said. “Children should feel safe in their own homes, and this particular defendant stripped the 14-year-old victim of that feeling of safety. Now she can feel safe in her home, once again, knowing that Defendant Reyes will never have the opportunity to hurt her again.”

For the first time in California since Prop 35 was passed, a pimp faces a life sentence in state prison. On September 10, Christopher Lee Knox, 28, of San Bernardino, was found guilty by a jury of procuring another person for the purpose of prostitution, pimping a minor and persuading a minor to engage in commercial sex. Jurors also found true allegations that Knox used force, fear, coercion, violence or threat of unlawful injury to the victim. Knox was sentenced to 36 years to life in state prison October 16, 2014.

Rodriguez, who also heads up the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, said Knox threatened his 16-year-old victim—who was a runaway at the time—with a taser to make sure she understood and carried out his rules.

After being forced to work as a prostitute on Base Line in San Bernardino, the 16-year-old victim was approached by San Bernardino police officers and eventually admitted she was working for Knox. He was arrested that same day and taken into custody.

Beanie Bandit sentenced to 321 years to life in state prison on burglary charges

Prosecuted by DDA Tom Colclough

“His first four robberies were of Rite Aid stores in Ontario, Fontana and Redlands,” said Colclough, who was assigned to the case. “He then stopped committing robberies for about one year, likely because the department of corrections put an ankle bracelet on him.”

According to Colclough, the day after the bracelet was removed Rodriguez continued with his robbery spree. In 2010 he robbed two stores in Ontario and one in Montclair and committed an attempted robbery of two other stores in Ontario and Fontana.

It was a rainy Friday morning—November 4, 2011. The body of a young man was found lying near the entrance of Muscoy Elementary school, with six close-range gunshot wounds to the head.

A custodian at the school came upon the scene of the crime just before school started and alerted authorities. The victim was identified as 25-year-old Roy Craddock, a lifelong resident of Muscoy, who had attended that very elementary school.

“Through interviews with the victim’s family, we were able to find out that the victim had called the night before just after eleven o’clock, asking to be picked up in the vicinity of the school,” said Gregory.

Gregory added that although family members drove to the location immediately to pick him up, they were unable to locate him and he was not responding to repeated phone calls.

John Wayne Thomson

Convicted Murderer John Wayne Thomson Sentenced to Death

Prosecuted by DDA Robert Bulloch (Bulloch is now a Supervising Deputy District Attorney for the West Valley Division)

John Wayne Thomson was formally sentenced to receive the death penalty today for fatally stabbing Charles Hedlund of Lucerne Valley, who had stopped on the side of the road in the Cajon Pass to help Thomson.

“John Thomson is the reason why the death penalty is still relevant,” Bulloch said. “He has served time in state prison repeatedly. While incarcerated, he was given every opportunity to be rehabilitated, but each time he got out, he committed even more violent and serious felonies. And as this case demonstrated, even when he was locked up and facing murder charges and the death penalty, he continued to prey on society by soliciting the murders of three innocent people from jail. There is nothing else that society can do to stop Thomson, other than to give him the harshest punishment.”

Prosecuted by DDA Robert Bulloch (Bulloch is now a Supervising Deputy District Attorney for the West Valley Division)

Fowler was formally sentenced to receive the death penalty today for starting the 2003 “Old Fire” that burned more than 90,000 acres, damaged 1,003 homes and led to the deaths of five men.

“Today, after nearly ten years, justice has now been secured for the victims and their families, and those whose lives were affected by the actions of Rickie Lee Fowler,” said District Attorney Mike Ramos.

Three Gang Members sentenced to life in prison for Cinnamon Creek Apartment shooting in Redlands

Prosecuted by Lead Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster of the Central Gang Unit prosecuted the case (Webster is now a Supervising Deputy District Attorney for the Desert-Mountain Division)

“Today justice was carried out for all the victims and their families,” District Attorney Mike Ramos said following the reading of the verdict. “This was a horrendous crime that took the lives of two young boys and injured two others. We will certainly recover as a community and rise from this tragedy, not only for the memories of Quinn and Andrew, but to send a strong message to these local terrorists who try to take over our communities. I have said it before and I will say it again, gang members will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Translate Website

It is the mission of the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office to represent the interests of the people in the criminal justice system, as mandated by California State law. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office serves the residents of San Bernardino County by: seeking the truth, protecting the innocent; holding the guilty accountable; preserving the dignity of victims and their families; and, ensuring that justice is done while always maintaining the highest ethical standards.